Well, as is his custom, Tony has swung wildly and, in this case, missed. He went 1-3, but missed his two biggest bets, leaving him way down for the week. After a good week followed by a bad week, Andy broke even in week three.

Even is boring. Go big or go home … or go into hiding … again.

Anyway, here are the standings:

  Last week Last week $ Overall Overall $ Bank roll
Andy 2-2 Even 6-5-1 +$242 $10,242
Tony 1-3 -$4,137 3-9 -$7,332 $2,668

Andy: It’s been a weird season so far. And I’m holding close to even. So I don’t feel too bad, yet. But I it’s time to start winning some money. So let’s loosen things up this week:

$1,000 – Carolina (-3, -115) at Atlanta – The Falcons have given up 31, 28 and 32 points so far to Tampa Bay, Oakland and New Orleans. They are 2-1 because they’ve been able to outscore the Saints and Raiders. But the Panthers are equally as good as those opponents offensively and they have a better defense. A much better defense. That this line is not larger surprises me. Angry Panthers in a rout.

$800 – Denver (-3.5, -105) at Tampa Bay – Trevor Siemian is no Peyton Manning. Siemian is not even any Jameis Winston. But he’s been a relatively harmless replacement for the former as the Broncos new signal caller this season, at least so far. The Bucs are young and potentially improving, but Denver’s defense is still the real deal. Even if the Broncos only score 14-17 points, I think it’s possibly enough to cover here.

$700 – NY Jets (+2.5, -105) vs Seattle – Ryan Fitzpatrick proved the Jets were right in not investing a long-term, big-money contract in him during the offseason. But he’s typically not six interceptions bad. He’ll rebound enough this week to get New York back on track. Meanwhile, the Seahawks’ offensive line has been a disaster and Russell Wilson is walking around on one leg. He may not even play. The team busted out with 37 points last week against San Francisco, but against the less-than-stellar Dolphins and Rams, the team averaged seven-and-a-half points per game. The Jets defense will be the best one Seattle has faced.

$500 – Cleveland (+300 money line) at Washington – When you’re a young, bad team trying to figure out how to win, sometimes I think it may be easier to play on the road. Less pressure, fewer demons, fans not cursing due to a decade-long stretch of futility. The Redskins, on the other hand, have expectations and so far are not meeting them. Thus, if things go bad early here, they may also wish they were playing on the road. The Browns are playing hard and have come closer than expected a couple times. I predict they finally pull one out here.

Tony: Of course I have to win 1 of the 4 bets…couldn’t just wipe the whole slate clean.

$800 – Detroit Lions (-3, +105) over Chicago Bears – As much as I hope Jordan Howard pays off my preseason fantasy investing, the Bears are terrible. The Lions could easily find a way to lose, but they shouldn’t.

$800 – Dallas Cowboys (-3, +105) over San Francisco 49ers – See above, replace Bears with 49ers, and Howard with…sigh…Carlos Hyde. Go Cowboys?

$800 – New Orleans Saints at San Diego: Under 53.5 (-110): Call this my do the opposite of the week…both teams should score 30.

$800 – Oakland Raiders (+155 moneyline) over Baltimore Ravens – Not many moneylines over +150 this week, except a few that even I can’t stomach, so I’ll grab the Raiders. I think I took the Ravens in most of my pools, but they are winning with smoke & mirrors. Not sure Oakland is the team to prove that, but…what the hell.